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"body": "<html><body><br/>\n<p><br/>\nA group of principled citizens in Hood River, Oregon who reached out to assist Japanese Americans returning at the end of World War II and who took steps to counter widely publicized racist acts in their community\n</p><p>In the midst of the anti-Japanese furor that brought national notoriety to the community of Hood River, Oregon, a group of residents joined together to counter the intolerance. Disturbed by full-page ads discouraging Americans of Japanese descent from returning to their homes and farms as well as by actions taken to remove <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Nisei\" title=\"Nisei\">Nisei</a> names from the county's memorial board of service men and women, they formed the League for Liberty and Justice. Their title, taken from the last words of the Pledge of Allegiance, demonstrated their resolve for supporting valley <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Nikkei\" title=\"Nikkei\">Nikkei</a> and counteracting the intense propaganda.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">[1]</a></sup>\n</p><p>With little fanfare, fifty-plus members organized early in May 1945, meeting twice a month at members' homes or at the downtown Asbury Methodist Church, where inspirational leader Rev. <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Sherman_Burgoyne\" title=\"Sherman Burgoyne\">Sherman Burgoyne</a> served. They elected officers and devised plans for thwarting negative portrayals of Japanese Americans.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">[2]</a></sup> Orchardist Avon Sutton, as president, wrote letters to J.C. Penney, Safeway, and other chain stories urging them to allow Japanese Americans to patronize their businesses. At his own expense, he published \"Witch Burning,\" an ad denouncing the \"witch burning spirit\" in Hood River that could grow to \"Nazi standards.\" He also questioned whether national and international fruit buyers might turn against the valley for its brand of injustice, bankrupting those involved in producing and selling the valley's famed apples. \"Shall we write into the Bill of Rights, 'For Caucasians Only,'\" he asked. \"Let us not burn any witches in Hood River!\"<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">[3]</a></sup>\n</p><p>Two weeks later the League sponsored a newspaper ad reprinting an army officer's criticism of his hometown news editor's acerbic remark. The editor of the <i>Mandan Daily Pioneer</i> in North Dakota, Charles F. Pierce, had commented in his column: \"A squib in a paper makes the statement that there are some good Jap-Americans in this country but it didn't say where they are buried.\" As commander of 5,000 Nisei in the 2nd Battalion of the <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/442nd_Regimental_Combat_Team\" title=\"442nd Regimental Combat Team\">442nd Regimental Combat Team</a> in Europe, Lt.-Col. James M. Hanley berated such prejudicial jokes and recounted acts of courage by Nisei soldiers. \"Come on over here, Charlie,\" he had challenged. \"I'll show you 'where some good Jap-Americans are buried.'\" In a footnote to the ad, the League added that several local \"boys of Japanese descent\" served with that unit.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">[4]</a></sup>\n</p><p>As Nikkei began returning to the valley, League secretary Hazel V. Smith sent them letters, expressing the League's \"sense of shame\" for the \"unreasonable prejudice and vicious actions\" of certain individuals. Assuring them that there were \"fair minded people\" who had \"growing resentment and concern\" for these wrongs, Smith gave telephone numbers of three couples and one individual whom they could contact at all times. \"Don't hesitate to call on us,\" she implored. League members also met returning Nikkei at the train depot and drove them to their homes, purchased goods at stores that denied them service, and drove produce trucks when warehouses would not accept their fruit.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\">[5]</a></sup>\n</p><p>The League also promoted educational programs. One featured a <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/War_Relocation_Authority\" title=\"War Relocation Authority\">War Relocation Authority</a> (WRA) film, \"<a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/OWI/WRA_documentaries\" title=\"OWI/WRA documentaries\">Challenge to Democracy</a>,\" depicting life at the <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Heart_Mountain\" title=\"Heart Mountain\">Heart Mountain</a>, Wyoming, incarceration camp. Another program introduced Sgt. Henry Gosho, a veteran of Merrill's Marauders, the Nisei unit that fought behind enemy lines through 700 miles of jungle to reopen the road to Burma. Members of the League also encouraged local pastors to include intercultural themes renouncing prejudice within their weekly sermons.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref6_6-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref6-6\">[6]</a></sup>\n</p><p>After the war, members of the Japanese American community raised $170 in donations to express their appreciation to the League for Liberty and Justice.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref7_7-0\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref7-7\">[7]</a></sup>\n</p>\n<div id=\"authorByline\"><b>Authored by <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Linda_Tamura\" title=\"Linda Tamura\">Linda Tamura</a></b></div>\n<div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">Tamura, Linda</div>\n<div id=\"RelatedArticlesDisplay\">\n<h2><span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Related_Articles\">Related Articles</span></h2>\n<p>\n</p>\n<div id=\"RelatedArticlesSectionDisplay\">\n<h3><span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"\"></span></h3>\n<p>\n</p>\n<ul><li> <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Hood_River_incident\" title=\"Hood River incident\">Hood River incident</a></li>\n<li> <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Sherman_Burgoyne\" title=\"Sherman Burgoyne\">Sherman Burgoyne</a></li>\n<li> <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Arline_Moore\" title=\"Arline Moore\">Arline Moore</a></li></ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n<h2><span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">For More Information</span></h2>\n<p>Tamura, Linda. <i>Hood River Issei: An Oral History of Japanese Settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley</i>. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.\n</p><p>———. <i>Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence: Coming Home to Hood River</i>. Seattle: University of Illinois Press, 2012.\n</p><p>U.S. War Relocation Authority. <i>Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office</i>. Portland, Ore.: WRA District Office, February 19, 1946.\n</p>\n<div class=\"toplink\"><a href=\"#top\"><i class=\"icon-chevron-up\"></i> Top</a></div><h2><span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">Footnotes</span></h2>\n<div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n<ol class=\"references\">\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\">Linda Tamura, <i>The Hood River Issei: An Oral History of Japanese Settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley</i> (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 237.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\">Linda Tamura, <i>Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence: Coming Home to Hood River</i> (Seattle: University of Seattle Press, 2012), 169; U.S. War Relocation Authority, <i>Final report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office</i> (Portland, Ore.: WRA District Office, February 19, 1946). Officers included Avon Sutton, president; Wallace J. Miller, vice president; and <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Arline_Moore\" title=\"Arline Moore\">Mrs. Max Moore</a> and Rev. Sherman Burgoyne, members of the central committee, with Mrs. Fannie Friedman of the district WRA office as liaison. Tamura, <i>Hood River Issei</i>, 316.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\"><i>Hood River News</i>, May 25, 1946, 6.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\"><i>Hood River News</i>, June 8, 1945, 9.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\">Tamura, <i>Hood River Issei</i>, 238.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref6-6\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref6_6-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\">Tamura, <i>Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence</i>, 170.</span>\n</li>\n<li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref7-7\"><span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\"><a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref7_7-0\">↑</a></span> <span class=\"reference-text\">Tamura, <i>Hood River Issei</i>, 238.</span>\n</li>\n</ol></div>\n<!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCPU time usage: 0.084 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.086 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 241/1000000\nPreprocessor generated node count: 1053/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 2086/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 45/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 4/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nExtLoops count: 0/100\n-->\n<!-- Saved in parser cache with key mediawiki:pcache:idhash:3334-0!*!0!!*!*!* and timestamp 20180116204516 and revision id 18222\n -->\n<div class=\"toplink\"><a href=\"#top\"><i class=\"icon-chevron-up\"></i> Top</a></div></body></html>",
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"url_title": "League for Liberty and Justice",
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"title": "League for Liberty and Justice",
"url": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/League%20for%20Liberty%20and%20Justice/",
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"title_sort": "League for Liberty and Justice",
"modified": "2015-03-28T00:44:31",
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